ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 189 



the milk from a large number of herds was handled together, 

 began in the seventies. Previous to that time adulteration 

 was confined almost entirely to the manipulation of the raw 

 product. About that time, however, it was found that a mix- 

 ture of butter and oleo oil could be made so closely to imitate 

 the natural product, that it was difficult for the ordinary, 

 every day man and woman to distinguish one from the 

 other. The first factory for the manufacture of oleo was estab- 

 lished in New York City upon the lines laid down by the in- 

 ventor, Mr. Mege, of Paris, who found that by combining oleo 

 oil, which is the oil of the beef fat or the ox or steer, with milk 

 and a certain proportion of butter, a very close imitation to the 

 real product could be made at a much less cost than where 

 the milk or cream from the cow was used. Factories sprung 

 up in various parts of the country, and dairymen began to 

 see that if those things should be allowed to continue the 

 cow would soon be without an occupation as far as furnishing 

 butter for the nation was concerned, and that the steer would 

 be the butter producer. 



Experiments and improvements along that line were 

 made to secure, if possible, a closer imitation, and neutral 

 lard came into use shortly afterward, and with a combinatioB 

 of neutral lard, oleo oil, cotton seed oil and milk an imitation 

 could be made that would contain no butter at all, colored to 

 imitate the real article, would pass in the ordinary every day 

 way for consumption as the real. 



I have here a sworn statement of the cost of oleo, as 

 given in a suit in the State of New York. ^'Thirty-four 

 pounds of neutral lard, 27 pounds oleo oil, 12 pounds cotton 

 seed oil, 18 pounds milk, 9 pounds of salt and a small amount 

 of color." The cost per hundred pounds of this mixture is 

 |2.91. Tubs, cases and cost of manufacture bring the cost at 

 Chicago per hundred pounds up to |6.41. This, of course, is 

 where the article is manufactured in a large way, and we find 

 evidence to corroborate these figures in the fact that the con- 

 tract for furnishing the United States Soldiers' Home at Day- 

 ton, Ohio, was let to Armour & Co., Chicago, 111., for seven 

 cents per pound delivered in Dayton, showing that even |6.41 

 is above rather than below, as the freight from Chicago to 



